El Salvador Furiously Refuses to Abandon Bitcoin

El Salvador has issued a more formal — and angry — response to the International Monetary Fund's pleas for the country to abandon Bitcoin as legal tender.

The Central American nation's treasury minister, Alejandro Zelaya, furiously told a local television channel:

"No international organization is going to make us do anything, anything at all … Countries are sovereign nations and they take sovereign decisions about public policy."

Zelaya went on to add that El Salvador has taken great care to ensure that BTC transactions comply with money laundering rules.

President Nayib Bukele has sparked controversy by investing public funds worth tens of millions of dollars into Bitcoin — and making purchases from his smartphone on a whim whenever the cryptocurrency's value falls.

Last week, the IMF said BTC's use creates "large risks" when it comes to "financial stability, financial integrity and consumer protection" — and warned that El Salvador's public debt is currently on an "unsustainable path."

Some of the recommendations made by the IMF include abandoning the reward of $30 in BTC that is given to Salvadoran consumers who download the Chivo digital wallet.

While the IMF concedes that the Chivo wallet could play a significant role in boosting financial inclusion — an estimated 70% of the country's citizens are unbanked — it wants the app to only facilitate transactions in U.S. dollars and not Bitcoin. A report added:

"In the near-term the actual costs of implementing Chivo and operationalizing the Bitcoin Law exceed potential benefits.".

Bukele Dismissive

With a high-profile Twitter account as his weapon — and 3.5 million followers to boot — Bukele has wasted little time in dismissing the IMF's concerns, and challenging other critics such as the Bank of England.

When the IMF's warning first came to light, he simply responded with a meme from The Simpsons. And in recent days, he's been doubling down on Bitcoin's potential:

"There are more than 50 million millionaires in the world. Imagine when one of them decides they should own at least ONE Bitcoin. But there will ever be only 21 million Bitcoin. Not enough for even half of them. A gigantic price increase is just a matter of time."

Bitcoin, Ethereum Technical Analysis: BTC, ETH Consolidate After Monday’s Surge

Crypto markets marginally consolidated on Tuesday, following yesterday’s price surge which saw bitcoin and ethereum both rally to multi-week highs. BTC climbed to $45,000, with ETH moving to $3,200.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin prices were marginally below yesterday’s high, as profit takers look to have closed some of their positions.

BTC/USD rose to an intraday high of $45,293.87 during Monday’s session, however it’s tracking close to $43,354.61 today.

Yesterday’s move, which now looks like a false break, moved beyond its recent resistance of $43,770, en route to its highest point since January 5.

The moving averages of 10-days (red) and 25 days (blue) have crossed over on the upside, which many believe shows that the momentum may continue to surge until a true resistance is found.

Should we see another swing, many could see this resistance as being close to the $50,000 level, which hasn’t been hit since late December.

As of writing, prices have continued to fall, with a doji being formed in today’s chart.

Ethereum

Following an intraday high of $3,219.47 on Monday, which was a three-week high, ETH was also consolidating during today’s session.

As of writing, ETH/USD fell to a low of $3,062.51 on Tuesday, as bulls liquidated positions in the world’s second largest cryptocurrency.

Ethereum now sits marginally above its old resistance level at $3,022, which seems to be forming a new floor.

The 14-day RSI has also dropped below its resistance level of 56, and is currently tracking around 54.

Similar to BTC, moving averages have also experienced an upside cross, which may give long-term bulls the confidence to maintain positions, despite the current short-term volatility.

Will another ETH rally come this week? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Google Exploring Blockchain Products — CEO Shares Web3 Strategies

Google has shared some details of its web3 and blockchain strategies. “As a company, we are looking at how we might contribute to the ecosystem and add value,” said Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc.

Google’s Web3 and Blockchain Strategies

The CEO of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google, Sundar Pichai, shared some information on the group’s blockchain strategy during the company’s Q4 earnings call last week.

Pichai was asked about his view on web3 and Alphabet’s approach to the industry. “Anytime there is innovation, I find it exciting,” the Google CEO began, elaborating:

On web3, we are definitely looking at blockchain, and such an interesting and powerful technology with broad applications, so much broader, again, than any one application.

“As a company, we are looking at how we might contribute to the ecosystem and add value,” he continued, adding:

Just one example, our Cloud team is looking at how they can support our customers’ needs in building, transacting, storing value, and deploying their products on blockchain-based platforms.

“So we’ll definitely be watching the space closely and supporting it where we can. Overall, I think technology will continue to evolve and innovate and we want to be pro-innovation and approach it that way,” the CEO opined.

Google’s Cloud division recently formed a group to build business around blockchain applications. Richard Widmann, head of strategy for digital assets at Google’s Cloud unit, said the group plans to hire a slew of people with blockchain expertise. “We think that if we do our jobs right, it will drive decentralization,” he was quoted by the media as saying.

The executive added that Google is currently considering what types of services it can offer directly to developers in the blockchain space. Thomas Kurian, Google’s cloud CEO, has identified a number of areas, including retail and health care.

Shivakumar Venkataraman, an engineering vice president for Google, is now running a unit focused on “blockchain and other next-gen distributed computing and data storage technologies,” Bloomberg reported last week.

What do you think about Google’s web3 and blockchain strategies? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Bitcoin, Ethereum Technical Analysis: Bitcoin Hits $43,000 After Tesla Announcement

Following a strong weekend, bitcoin’s surge continued to start the week, as Tesla announced close to $2 billion worth of holdings in BTC. Overall, crypto markets were around 3% higher on Monday.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin, which consolidated for the majority of last week, moved closer to a three-week high today, climbing by as much as 3% as of writing.

BTC/USD rose to an intraday high above $43,500.00 during Monday’s session, as markets reacted to the news that Tesla currently holds $1.9 billion in bitcoin.

The move came as bitcoin marginally broke out of its resistance level of $42,060 for the first time since January 21.

As of writing, the RSI also climbed to a high point, tracking above its long-term ceiling of 60, which it last hit in mid-November.

Monday’s move has also led to a crossover of the 10-day (red) and 25-day (blue) moving averages, which many long-term bulls have been waiting for.

Bulls may take this as a sign to add more upward pressure to prices, with some targeting $45,000 as the next point of profit taking.

Ethereum

ETH was also tracking at multi-week highs on Monday, as bulls continue to flock to the world’s second largest cryptocurrency.

As of writing, ETH/USD climbed to a high of $3,111.16 today, after trading at $2,965.43 less than 24-hours ago.

Overall, ethereum is up over 20% in the last week, coming as its 14-RSI broke beyond two key resistance levels in that time.

The first break came after a break above 44 on February 3, followed by Saturday’s surge above the 55 ceiling.

These moves have created a shift in both the 10-day and 25-day moving averages, which, similar to BTC, is set for a crossover.

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Is ETH now headed to a resistance of $3,400? Leave your thoughts in the comments below

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Research Firm Predicts Bitcoin Will Hit $200K in Second Half of 2022, ETH to Reach $12K

This week in a note to investors, Fsinsight, a Fundstrat company, said bitcoin could reach $200,000 during the second half of the year. In the investor’s note, Fsinsight’s head of digital asset strategy, Sean Farrell, said the parabolic growth would be due to “legacy market capital entering the fold.”

Fsinsight: ‘Bitcoin to Tap $200K in H2 2022, Ethereum Will Jump Close to 400%’

While last year’s $100K predictions went silent during the last month of 2021, bitcoin (BTC) price predictions are starting to appear again this year. According to the Fundstrat firm Fsinsight, BTC could increase by almost 500% from the current price point to around $200K per unit.

The BTC price prediction stems from Fsinsight and the firm’s head of digital asset strategy, Sean Farrell. Both Fsinsight and Fundstrat are bullish about the upside potential of crypto assets as Fundstrat Global Advisors’ head of research recently insisted bitcoin still has “exponential growth ahead” of it.

Fsinsight’s and Farrell’s investor’s note says times are different now that major businesses and “legacy market capital [is] entering the fold.” “This is much different from 2018 where tech stocks were still doing well but bitcoin sold off along with the rest of the crypto market cap,” Farrell explained. Meanwhile, all eyes are on the Federal Reserve’s meeting in March as Fed chair Jerome Powell has hinted at raising benchmark interest rates.

Fsinsight’s prediction notes that U.S. policymakers could bring some downside to the leading crypto asset’s price growth. “All assets can sell off and drop another 50% if the Fed hikes 4% tomorrow or next month,” Farrell remarked in the note. “But right now, as things stand, the upside to both bitcoin and [ethereum] is much larger than the downside

Meanwhile, digital currency values have increased during the last week as bitcoin (BTC) has climbed over 12% and ethereum (ETH) jumped more than 13% over the last seven days. Fsinsight’s prediction also notes that ethereum has the potential to swell in USD value during the last half of 2022. Fsinsight’s investor’s note predicts ETH could climb close to 400% to around $12K per unit.

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What do you think about Fsinsight’s prediction about bitcoin and ethereum skyrocketing to new highs in H2 2022? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.